Safety Officer Course: 8 Workplace Disasters from Around the World

Over the centuries, the world has been shocked by the tragedies of workplace disasters. Workplace disasters range from explosions to fires to collapsed buildings, all resulting in deaths, injuries, and destruction of property. We highlight 8 workplace disasters that have occurred across the world to highlight the importance of increasing workplace safety. One of the ways that you can avoid a disaster occurring in your workplace is by having a professionally trained safety officer. Receive your safety officer qualification with EMCARE’s safety officer course to assist in preventing workplace disasters.

8 Worldwide Workplace Disasters:

Across the world, employees are forced to work in hazardous working environments. Due to lack of health and safety regulation enforcement, employers ignoring reports of safety issues in their workplace, and improper management of workplaces, many employees across the industries are facing life-threatening work environments. Despite the improvements made in health and safety regulation enforcement, the need for workplace safety is still prevalent globally.

We have highlighted 8 disasters that occurred in workplaces across the world. These workplace disasters span across the 20th and 21st centuries and resulted in unnecessary loss of lives, high levels of occupational-related injuries, and socio-economic impacts. These horrifying and tragic workplace disasters act to demonstrate the importance of increased workplace health and safety regulations, enforcement, and monitoring.

1) Tazreen Garment Factory Fire:

In November 2012, a fire started in the Bangladesh-based Tazreen garment factory. When the smoke alarm went off, managers told employees to continue working and locked all exit doors. Employees were forced to jump through windows on the upper floor, with many sustaining injuries from the height of the jump. 112 employees were trapped in the building and died, with the majority of these employees being women and young girls.

2) Rana Plaza Factory Collapse:

Just five months after the Tazreen garment factory fire, the Bangladesh-based Rana Plaza garment factory collapsed in April 2013. The eight-storey Rana Plaza building, which housed five garment factories, was not built to construction codes and the builders used substandard building materials. Despite reports produced the day before the collapse on cracks signifying major structural problems with the building, the employees of the factory were ordered to return to work the next day. In the collapse, 1132 employees were killed and a further 2500 people were injured.

The workplace disasters of the Tazreen garment factory fire and the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse have become symbols of the desperate need for reform regarding workplace safety in the fashion industry. Despite the worldwide recognition of these workplace disasters, there are still present-day reports of unsafe working conditions, unsuitable working hours, below minimum wage payments, and unfair management of employees in the ready-made garment industry that supports fast fashion.

3) ICL Plastics Factory Explosion:

Devastation struck Glasgow in May 2004 when the ICL plastics factory exploded. Beneath the factory were stored liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders and pipelines. Due to lack of maintenance, the pipelines had corroded and begun to leak LPG. An ignition source caused the LPG cylinders to explode, resulting in the instantaneous collapse of the four-storey building. Of the 100 employees in the building, 9 employees died and 33 employees were injured.

4) The Bhopal Gas Leak:

The India-based Bhopal gas leak, commonly referred to as the Bhopal disaster, occurred in December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant. Employees at the UCIL were flushing pipes at the pesticide plant with water when accidentally water entered into a tank filled with methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, a highly toxic gas. A chemical reaction occurred between the water and the MIC gas, causing the pressure to rise in the tank, and forcing the employees to release the gas into the air to avoid an explosion. When sirens went off alerting to the release of the gas, they were switched off.

Immediately the employees at UCIL died from toxic inhalation of the MIC gas. The toxic cloud of MIC gas then blew over surrounding areas, causing many people in nearby communities to suffocate from the gas inhalation or experience choking and eye pain that resulted in mass fleeing of the area. The final death toll sits at between 15 000 to 20 000, with many people still suffering from effects of minor exposure, including respiratory problems, cardiac malfunctions, and birth defects.

Alongside the devastating human effects of the MIC gas leak, there have also been environmental effects. The MIC gas seeped into surrounding soil and water sources and has since contaminated this area. The contaminated area continues to expose residents to the harmful MIC gas resulting in recurring health problems for the community.

Investigations highlighted that the main causes behind the Bhopal gas leak were due to non-compliant operations, lack of maintenance, understaffing, and inadequate safety measures for employees to prevent such an event from occurring.

5) Deepwater Horizon Oil Explosion and Pollution:

In April 2010, a workplace tragedy occurred at the BP Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform. Located in the Gulf of Mexico, there was an explosion at the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling platform. 11 employees died from the explosion and 17 employees were injured. The cause of the explosion is linked to shortcuts taken when capping the oil well, employee over-confidence in their abilities, inaccurate pressure test evaluations, slow detection of leaks, failed safety valves due to improper checking, and failure of the safety alarm.

After the oil rig exploded and sunk, a catastrophic quantity of oil started to pour into the ocean. Only after three months of oil pouring into the ocean was the oil source sufficiently capped. Marine life, coastal ecosystems, and coastal communities were heavily impacted by this workplace disaster.

6) Seest Fireworks Disaster:

A workplace disaster occurred in Denmark in 2004 at the Seest-based N. P. Johnsens Fyrværkerifabrik fireworks warehouse. Two employees had accidentally dropped a box of fireworks in a storage container causing a fire to erupt within the container. Fire emergency services arrived to put out the fire but were forced to flee when the fire became uncontrollable. The fire spread to the rest of the warehouse filled with stored fireworks, causing the warehouse to explode. While no employees died, this workplace disaster resulted in 8 deaths, 17 injured civilians, the evacuation of 2000 people from the Seest suburb, and 2107 damaged buildings.

7) Imperial Sugar Refinery Dust Explosion:

In February 2008 an enormous explosion occurred at the Imperial Sugar Refinery. The Georgia-based Imperial Sugar Refinery explosion was caused by the mass accumulation of combustible sugar dust in the air of the packaging plant as a result of inadequate ventilation. The force of the explosion caused parts of the Sugar Refinery to collapse, resulting in a death toll of 14 Imperial employees with a further 36 employees suffering from burns and other injuries. The sugar dust accumulation and spilling of sugar reserves resulted in a seven-day-long burning of the refinery.

8) Hawks Nest Tunnel:

The Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster occurred between 1930-1935 in West Virginia, United States of America. The Hawks Nest Tunnel was part of a hydroelectric project where a tunnel was being dug to divert water from a river to an electricity generation plant downstream. The Hawks Nest Tunnel was dug through a sandstone mountain that was composed of silica sand. Over the five-year project, the inhalation of the silica dust resulted in an estimated 764 miners dying from silicosis, a severe and fatal lung disease.

The mining force, composed predominantly of African-Americans seeking work during the Great Depression, was forced to work in hazardous conditions. They worked fifteen-hour days without any respiratory protection to prevent the inhalation of the toxic silica dust, despite managers who monitored the miners wearing protective gear.

Avoid Workplace Disasters with a Safety Officer:

The recurring horror throughout the highlighted 8 workplace disasters is an instantaneous event resulting in death, injury, and widespread damage to infrastructure. Workplace disasters can occur if health and safety regulations are not followed or enforced, employees are forced to work despite reports on hazards, or if consistent or ethical management of the workplace is not performed. The best way to avoid your workplace becoming the next workplace disaster is to have a professionally trained safety officer.

A workplace safety officer is responsible for ensuring workplace safety for employees, employers, and any visitors to the workplace. A safety officer will develop workplace-specific safety measures, enforce South African health and safety regulations, eliminate potential hazards, ensure the use of correct personal protective equipment, and perform many more important responsibilities to ensure complete workplace safety. Every workplace seeking to be compliant with health and safety regulations should ensure the skills and professional expertise of a safety officer is a part of their workforce.

Despite the efforts of health and safety regulations and enforcements, workplace emergencies can still occur. In the event of a workplace emergency, the safety officer would have created a relevant emergency plan, trained all employees on the emergency plan, and will ensure that the emergency plan is successfully carried out. A safety officer will be your best preventative measure from a workplace emergency turning into a workplace disaster.

EMCARE Safety Officer Course:

EMCARE is a health and safety training facility that offers an exceptional safety officer course. Our safety officer course offers highly practical training designed to ensure total safety and compliance with South African health and safety regulations in workplaces. Our training will ensure that you are adequately equipped to maintain the safety of employees at any workplace.

Our safety officer course covers all the theories and skills relevant for creating a safe working environment in any business. Our comprehensive safety officer course covers basic principles of being a safety officer, occupational health, risk assessment, contractor safety management, technical safety, environmental management, management systems, and accident incident investigation. You will walk away from our safety officer course with confidence in your safety officer abilities.

The EMCARE safety officer course takes two weeks to complete. Within these two weeks, you will experience both the practical and theoretical training offered by our qualified trainers. Our safety officer course trainers are highly experienced in offering quality training to ensure that your safety officer skills are developed to an expert level.

At EMCARE, we prioritise increasing the accessibility of health and safety education. If you are interested in enrolling in our safety officer course, you will easily find one of the EMCARE facilities in a location near you. EMCARE branches are based across South Africa, allowing any South African or anyone from neighbouring Southern African countries to receive the training in our safety officer course.

If you are interested in obtaining the skills to become a safety officer in a workplace or are an employer wanting to train employees to become safety officers in your workplace, you can easily get in contact with one of the friendly EMCARE members. We will explain everything you need to know about our safety officer course so that you feel confident about choosing us as your safety officer course training provider.

Prevent a disaster from occurring in your workplace with a professionally trained safety officer from EMCARE’s safety officer course.